Interest in biological control has increased considerably in respone to the various effects of pesticides on the environment. Boilogical control favours conservation and the sustainable use of biological resources. Mass rearing and release of natural enemies are needed to attain sufficiently low pest populations. Oftern the success of biological control through an increased release of […]

Termites can be a serious threat to oil palm grown on peat, particularly during the early development of the crop. The common control method against termites is by the use of chemicals. Chlorprifos and fipronil are the most widely used insecticides for termite management (Zulkefli, 2007). Chemical spraying onto palm trunks up to the shoots […]

Basal stem rot (BSR) disease in oil palm, caused by Ganoderma species, is considered the most destructive disease in the oil palm industry in Southeast Asia. The efficacy of bacteria from the genera Pseudomonas and Burkholderia in controling Ganoderma boninse has been reported. Maizatul and Idris (2009) reported that a pure culture of the endophytic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae, also […]

Advantage in biotechnology have led to a significant increase in the use of microbes as biological control agents for plant pathogens. Relatively few of these microbes have been commercialised as bio-control agents due to their inconsistent performance in the field, interactions with non-target organisms, varying rhizosphere or soil colonisation by the bio-control agent, problems in […]

Marker-assisted selection (MAS) is the selection of desirable genotypes in conventional breeding using DNA-based diagnostic tools. By applying MAS, palms with the desired genotype can be differentiated early by their DNA, even before the characteristic trait can manifest itself visually. The availability of genetic maps, on which DNA markers such as Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) […]